Unit 3 of Russia’s Rostov plant joined to grid

29 December 2014

Rosenergoatom connected unit 3 of the Rostov nuclear power plant, near Volgodonsk, to the grid at 12:25am Moscow time on 27 December. Construction of the VVER-1000 pressurised water reactor started in 2009.

Rosenergoatom completed fuel loading at unit 3 of the Rostov nuclear power plant on 19 November. The loading of 163 fuel assemblies into the VVER-1000 pressurised water reactor followed regulatory approval the previous week to bring the unit to first criticality. Hot testing of the unit was completed on 24 October and additional pre-start due diligence work was conducted until 31 October.

The Rostov plant already has two VVER-1000 pressurised water reactor units in commercial operation, units 1 and 2.

Rostov-3 and Rostov-4 will use the same technology and will each have a capacity of 1011 MWe.

Rosenergoatom, the Rosatom subsidiary that operates all of Russia's civil nuclear power plants, said in a statement that unit 3 is expected to enter commercial operation in July 2015.